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Less than 24 hours after discovering that Fingerworks.com had gone black, the speculation surrounding the yanking of the site has blossomed full bloom into an "obvious" indication to conspiracy theorists that technology utilized in the forthcoming Apple tablet must have been on display at Fingerworks.com.

According to those claiming to be "in the know," this move is simply Cupertino's endeavor to divert attention away from such technology during these last few days before the tablet is formally unveiled. Naturally, however, taking the site down has only directed more attention to the very digital territory Apple apparently doesn't want us paying much attention too.

The content of Fingerworks.com has been removed this week after remaining online for nearly 5 years after the acquisition of the company by Apple. The removal seems to correspond with the impending announcement of an Apple tablet later this month. ... Up until last week, Fingerworks.com retained photographs and details about their multi-touch keyboards and gesture pads they released for Macs years ago.

If Apple's decision to pull the site does in fact correspond with the tablet's big reveal, the real story here is not a potential short term "cover up" or distraction. The most exciting aspect of this development could be the indication that Apple is aggressively striving to fuse a broad range of technologies together to create innovative products and awesome new user experiences.

It's been widely expected that this sort of all purpose multi-touch interface will be offered in Apple's upcoming tablet. Wayne Westerman who was one of the founders of Fingerworks has since been the author of many multi-touch patent applications from Apple, including advanced gesturing implementations for Mac OS X.

Apple has seemingly charted a course that could make the mouse an ancient relic of a bygone era - a potential reality that seems to sit well with Mac users and Apple fans anticipating the tablet and the "fresh user experience" that may accompany its arrival.